Three deaths are being investigated in connection with the NHS 111
non-emergency phone line which launched across most of the country last
month, it was claimed last night.

Care providers are said to have reported at least 22 potential “serious untoward incidents” (SUIs) since the 111 service was launched last month including three cases in which patients died.

It comes as new figures suggest almost half of the country is still relying on NHS Direct to access health services, as patients in many areas have still not been told the new 111 non-emergency number is active.

One incident under investigation concerns a 47-year-old who died from a suspected overdose after relatives sought mental health assistance from NHS 111, according to the trade magazine Pulse.

There are also concerns about whether a call from an 83-year-old, who complained of severe abdominal pain and later died, was “properly actioned” by staff, it was reported.

Derbyshire Health United, which covers Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, said it was investigating both deaths but had found no evidence of failures in its system.

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A third patient died unexpectedly after being referred by NHS 111 to an out-of-hours GP in the West Midlands, the magazine reported.

Although the 111 line is now running in 37 of 44 regions in England, NHS Direct is still active in 21 areas where it is either running alone or in tandem with the new service.

In many of these areas the 111 line has been “soft launched” meaning it has been switched on but not advertised to local people, who may not even be aware it is active, a spokesman for NHS Direct said.

The figures were released by NHS England as it insisted that "a good NHS 111 service is now operating in most of the country" and meeting a "gold standard" of performance despite problems in some areas such as weekend care.

Last month the launch of 111 lines in several regions was aborted or suspended after problems surfaced in dozens of areas which had been running the service under a pilot scheme.

Some patients complained their calls were going unanswered while doctors and paramedics warned that call handlers were dispatching ambulances to deal with trivial cases like hiccups, making them too busy to attend real emergencies.

NHS England issued its statement after a board meeting on Friday where senior officials backed proposals to set up an external review into the service.

It said: "The performance standards which have now been introduced for NHS 111 represent a gold standard which the majority of NHS 111 services in England are now meeting, though in some areas performance is still unacceptable especially at weekends.

"Some local providers of NHS 111 have not provided the prompt reliable service the public need and want."

Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the British Medical Association's General Practitioners Committee, said: "The taxpayer is paying a lot of money for something that does not work.

"The NHS has had too many ambulance calls, too many people going to A&E, and this is not how it should have been. What has happened is exactly as doctors and nurses separately predicted it would be."